This
fireball of fear and loathing: All Muslims are now terrorists and, it seems,
fair gameBy Yasmin
Alibhai-Brown, The Independent
UK, 14 September 2001

'All Muslims are now terrorists
and, it seems, fair game. So we brace ourselves again for a period of bile
and beatings and hate mail'

"Anything done in the name of Islam
by self-seeking Muslims must concern British Muslims, but we cannot be
held responsible for these actions." This is what I wrote in my column
on Monday. How was I to know that, barely 24 hours later, Muslims around
the world would be swept up in a fireball of fear, confusion, shame, anger,
pity, sorrow and loathing for those who have again put us in this position
where we are all now suspect, judged as terrorists or sympathisers of terrorism,
as depraved curs who are determined to tear out the heart of modern civilisations?

And this is before we have any proof
that the grotesque attacks on key American buildings were carried out by
Muslim fanatics. If they were, we know we will all stand accused in the
hearts and minds of millions of non- Muslims. The wave of sympathy we feel
for the victims and their families (innocent Muslims may well be found
among the many victims) and the fury rising in our communities against
these violators of life and faith will not be noticed. Instead Islamophobia
will once more erupt worldwide and be legitimised by some political leaders.

It is OK to hate a Muslim again.
Already Russians are strutting about claiming vindication for their inhumane
destruction of Chechnya and Israel is looking decidedly smug, expecting
no more condemnations of its increasingly ruthless actions against Palestinians.
Hindu fundamentalists have started e-mailing their anti-Muslim messages
around the world and I have just heard that here a group of young Sikhs
spat on and threw stones at some Muslims girls walking home from school.
They were shouting abuse and accusing them of giving Asians a "bad name".

What will make the next months even
harder is that the lunatic and murderous factions who call themselves Islamic
will be encouraged by the power of their methods, and those who are brought
up to hate the West (a hatred that too often works against them) will rejoice,
and this, too, will add to our burdens. Living in the West we will be seen
as the enemy within by both sides, and we now know just how this will press
in on our lives.

Jewish and Irish Britons will understand
what a difficult balancing act it is to walk that tightrope where you are
furious and indignant for being held responsible for the evil actions of
others, but you know you cannot claim absolute disconnection. Every time
the IRA bombs mainland Britain, Irish Britons find themselves under suspicion.
Jewish Britons these days are frequently asked to pronounce on Sharon as
if they have to make constant pledges in order to remain on the left side
of liberalism. None of us caught in this can avoid thick and steady guilt
that soon overwhelms, especially in the aftermath of truly horrific events.

It is far, far worse if you are a
liberal Muslim or a Muslim whose faith lives comfortably with the values
of the West. Most American and European Muslims would say this about their
lives. They have many justifiable complaints about discrimination and the
hatred that they face, but many of us now see ourselves as people of Europe
not just Muslims who happen to be in Europe. That is not how we are perceived
by the West, and there are many Muslims who abhor this integrationist position.

I have already heard from young Muslims
who defend the Taliban and burn with anti-US sentiments. I share some of
these. US policy in Iraq and Israel upset the mildest of us, but, no, we
would not kill American citizens to avenge these, nor would we make excuses
for those who do. But who cares about these distinctions? All Pakis are
now terrorists and so fair game. So we brace ourselves again for a period
of bile and beatings and hate mail and furious writers who will take no
time to reflect but will decry Islam and Muslims. Remember the prophetic
pronouncements of Bernard Levin after Oklahoma? "Do you realise?" he thundered.
"In half a century, no more, fanatical Muslims will be winning wars around
the world and Oklahoma will be called Khartoum on the Mississippi." The
newspaper Today had a picture of a fireman holding a baby with the headline
"In the name of Islam". It turned out to be all-American white boys who
had plotted this barbarism but the prejudices remained intact.

I presented a documentary for Channel
4 in the aftermath of the Oklahoma bombing. In the US, Senator Dave McCurdy
and Jeff Kaymen, a Washington writer, were both responsible for careless
and emotive outbursts against Muslim extremists they say plot and live
in the US. They were unrepentant when they found that they were wrong.
In that time and space between blame and truth, Muslims in the US lived
through hell. Their children were abused and attacked in schools, homes
were stoned and mosques shot at. One Iraqi woman I interviewed, a refugee,
had a miscarriage at seven months in front of her three-year-old after
she had to barricade herself against a mob throwing stones outside her
small house. It will be much worse this time because it looks as if it
just may be "Muslims" who carried out the atrocities.

It has begun here too, although there
is a real shift in unexpected places. In The Sun yesterday, there was a
"map of evil" giving information about Muslim regimes and troublemakers
around the world. But, and this is astonishing, the editorial across two
pages said that it is wrong to malign Islam and Muslims every time such
evil actions erupt. Quite right too. We don't say that Christianity is
to blame for the ugly scenes outside the Holy Cross school in Northern
Ireland. The Mail, too, was surprisingly measured. Tony Blair has been
brilliant, using his emotions and language with care and precision so that
he doesn't appear to be condemning all Muslims for what has happened. But
people don't always take much notice, and, anyway, you can't undo years
of demonisation with a sudden outbreak of reason and caution among the
influential classes, welcome though it is.

Muslim women friends of mine have
today stopped wearing hejab and my mother has told me not to wear shalwar
khameez but saris over the next few weeks. People have been phoning saying
they are too terrified to go out. One mother in Halifax says that her child
was kicked in the playground and called a terrorist. Muslims at university
tell me that they are being picked on by their peers and accused of being
members of militant groups.

I was in Newtown, in Birmingham,
on Tuesday at a conference on gender equality. The Muslim mothers left
early because they were worried about getting their children indoors before
sunset. One of them, a youth worker, said: "What can I do to show them
that I am not a killer of Americans? Can I give them my blood, can I write
to somebody, what can I do so they don't hate me and think I hate all white
people?"

On the way to the station from this
impoverished area, I saw graffiti that had already gone up to strike at
anyone who might try and comfort themselves that these were phantom fears:
"Go home fucking terrorist islames (sic) or die. Revenge is coming." It
was signed "BNP".